In the eye of the beholder
by A11y50n
Summary: Stargate Atlantis: the next generation. Catching up with the original members of the expedition and their families.


A/N: I don't own any of the Stargate characters

Sorry for any mistakes

This was supposed to be a story about the next generation but it made a better family story.

In The Eye of the Beholder

She couldn't stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. She had to sneak out of her quarters to come and see him. Her parents would be worried if they found that she was gone. They were worried about her any way. Since they came together to tell her what had happened. Her parents were in front of her one second then everything went black. She woke up to find herself in her bedroom and Charin looking concerned about her twin. They were close but she wished she wasn't a twin right at that moment. She knew Charin knew how she felt and she wanted to hide away she didn't want to admit the feelings she had for the last few years, she kept them buried away. Even though they never talked about it she knew Charin knew how she felt just like she knew how Charin felt. The only difference was that Charin didn't care who knew her feelings whereas she did.

Beth held Ethan's hand being careful not to touch the many wires and tubes coming from his body. He was so battered and bruised. He saved a friend life that's why he was in the infirmary in saving that friend he risked his own life, that was so Ethan. He would do anything for a friend. He was the best friend to have or he was. Beth was remembering the last time they talked or rather yelled at each other. The day that she couldn't keep her mouth shut, the day she regretted so much and couldn't take back. They were on the East pier, she told him she wanted to talk to him in private. He was a couple of minutes late but that was nothing new.

"Hey what's up? What's so important?"

"Ethan, I need to tell you something." Beth started nervously "I don't know how to tell you this but… but I saw something a few days ago and I've been trying to figure out if I should tell you or not."

She was wringing her hands. She knew this was going to change their friendship forever but it was the right thing to do. She cared about him too much to see him get hurt.

"Hey you can tell me anything you know that. Did someone ask you out? It wasn't that new flyboy was it? You could do so much better…"

"Ethan it's not about me. I saw Janet and David together."

"And? What's the big deal? They're friends. Look we're here together now that doesn't mean that there's something going on between us. I didn't think you would ever try and cause trouble between me and Janet"

"Ethan it wasn't innocent, they were together _**together**_."

"You probably misunderstood the situation, you know they're close. You've never been in a relationship you don't know anything."

"I know when I see people kissing. I know when I see their TONGUES in each other's mouths!"

Silence just stretched out. They looked at each other. Beth's chest was heaving. She didn't mean to blurt it out like that but the crack about her not having a relationship got to her. Ethan just stared at her eyes wide.

"I only told you because I thought I would want to know if I was in your situation. I'm sorry, I …."

"You're sorry, what do you know? You have no idea what it's like to be in a relationship. Have you even kissed a guy? And I'm not talking about us cousins. No guy wants to go out with you, that's why you've never had a relationship. When you have one then we can talk again."

Ethan knew he was way out of order but he had to hurt her just like she hurt him. He knew she wasn't lying, she never lied. He also knew he crossed a line. As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. He saw the tears form in her eyes and he was about to apologise when she straightened her back and lifted her head. He saw a wall come up and he knew he ruined their friendship. There was no going back. He was more upset about this than Janet and David. There was no one to blame apart from himself.

"I apologise for interfering with your life, rest assured it will not happen again." Beth said in voice that made it clear that they were just colleagues now nothing more.

Beth made her way to her quarters. The door opened and she saw her mum and dad in an embrace. Ethan was right she had never been in a relationship before but she didn't just want to be with anyone, she wanted what she saw in front of her. Colonel John Shepard and Teyla Emmagen were her parents and she wanted what they had. She didn't see the point of dating many men when she knew who she wanted to be with but knew he didn't see her in that way. She wanted what her parents had but with Ethan. He only saw her as a friend. Beth thought it was better to be his friend than nothing at all. Now she didn't have that. Her parents ended their kiss and touched their foreheads together. It made her smile. She grew up with this how could she want anything less? Her brothers and sisters felt the same way. Torren found the love of his life in Uncle Rodney's daughter, Alicia they'd been married nearly a year now. Jasmine was engaged to Uncle Ronon's son Salen. Beth saw how they were happy as well as her aunts and uncles, how could she want anything less?

Her parents realised they were no longer alone, they turned to her and she tried to smile but couldn't quite pull it off instead the tears that she held at bay started to fall. She couldn't stop. She saw concern on her mamma's face and panic on her dad's at the sight of her tears. They came to her she hugged them so tightly she didn't want to let go.

"Bethany, what is wrong? Has something happened? Are you injured?"

Beth just shook her head and leaned further into her parents. John and Teyla shared a concerned look over their daughter's head. Eventually Beth stopped crying but she didn't want to let go of her parents.

"So ice cream, popcorn or both?" Her dad asked trying to relieve some of the tension.

Beth giggled and then sighed. This was the best family ever. Apparently when her mum was pregnant with the eldest daughter, Jasmine, her dad made it a rule that there always had to be ice cream and popcorn in the quarters for such occasions when his daughter would need a little comfort food. Her mamma rolled her eyes at this but her dad was adamant and so the rule was enforced. So the story goes. Whether it was fact or fiction who knew? But Beth had never known a time where you couldn't always find the two 'foods' in their quarters in abundance. It was strange the boys of the family went for the ice cream whereas the girls went for the popcorn.

"It's fine dad."

"Ice cream, popcorn or both?" John said stubbornly.

Beth knew she wasn't going to be able to avoid talking about what happened.

"John I think it would be good if we had both. Beth let's go and sit down while your dad brings everything."

Teyla dragged her daughter to the living area and sat next to her on the couch. Beth leaned into her mum again and rested her head on her shoulder. Her dad was back within a few minutes and sat on the other side of her after giving her a very large bowl of chocolate ice cream. There was also a huge bowl of popcorn on the table.

"Come on eat up."

"Dad…"

"Ok I have to feed you like when you were a baby" John said as he picked up the spoon "Open up here comes the puddle jumper."

"Dad I'm 23 years old!" Beth said giving her dad a look.

"I don't care how old you are, you're still my baby and you will always be my baby so open up."

John placed the spoon next to her mouth waiting for her to open, she rolled her eyes but opened her mouth much to her dad's delight.

"I think I can carry on myself thanks." Beth took the spoon from his hand and carried on eating.

"I messed up. I got involved in something that didn't concern me and I wish I just kept my mouth shut. I thought I was helping but I got that completely wrong. I was just trying to help. I thought the person would want to know what I found out. I mean I would if I was in his, I mean in their shoes but I was wrong and now I wished I kept my mouth shut. I've made a mess of everything."

"I am sure that this friend when he or she calms down will see that you were trying to help. It is not easy to hear something that you did not expect. I remember when Aunt Jennifer told us we were expecting you and Charin, your dad felt the need to immediately rest on the floor, your Uncle Rodney would say he fainted and you Uncle Ronon would agree however your dad would disagree."

They both turned to look at the now red faced man sitting on the sofa.

"I did not faint, I passed out. It was kind of a shock, twins, two at the same time. I mean come on who wouldn't have a reaction to that?"

"Yes who wouldn't? Not the one who had two babies inside of her! You were in shock for a few days. It was as if I had three children, Torren, Jasmine and your dad, to look after as well as take care of myself."

"Hey, I wasn't that bad."

Teyla just gave John a look.

"He is quite right, then a few days later he snapped out of it and just had a massive grin on his face for the rest of the pregnancy. You would think he had special sperm or something not that it was just fate."

"TEYLA!"

"I am pretty sure our daughter knows what sperm is and how babies are made John."

"That's beside the point, you don't have to talk about my…. you know what to our daughter!"

Beth couldn't help but laugh.

"Give your friend some time, they'll come around. It does take time to get over hearing something you didn't expect." John looked to Teyla as he said this.

He still regretted how he acted when Teyla told him she was pregnant with Torren.

Beth got up and kissed both her parents.

"Thanks guys, you're the best."

For the next few months, she and Ethan while they hung out with the rest of the cousins, they were not close as they were. In fact they hardly spoke to each other. She missed him so much but she couldn't get up the nerve to speak to him and he seemed happy to leave things the way there. Janet and David became a couple officially, Ethan handled it well.

Beth held his hand she didn't know what to say. She was alone. Uncle Evan and the others had gone back to their quarters. The beeping of the machines was the only thing that was keeping her sane it meant that he was alive.

"Ethan, please come back. Don't leave us. There are so many people here waiting for you to open your eyes. Please."

Beth squeezed his hand to let him know she was there. She didn't care what had happened in the past, she only knew that her best friend was lying in the infirmary with severe injuries and that he may not make it. She couldn't lose him. She should have tried harder to talk to him to clear the air.

"Hey you're missing so much. Dad and Uncle Rodney are arguing what they will be called when they become grandparents. Alicia's not even pregnant yet but they thought it would be important for them to sort it out now beforehand. Torren is tearing out his hair, Alicia just rolls her eyes. Mamma shakes her head and Aunt Jen does a combination of all three. It's funny to watch if you're not Torren or Alicia. I also think it's the grandparents' subtle way of letting them know they want grandchildren soon. Apparently someone or some people have been leaving 'subtle' hints in Torren's and Alicia's quarters. A list of baby names, a book on how to get pregnant, foods that are meant to be aphrodisiacs, the last straw was the fact that someone had 'removed' their contraception from their quarters, all the condoms and the pills just vanished one day. They were not happy. They had a family meeting. Us kids were not allowed to be there so obviously we stood outside trying to listen in. Apparently mamma and Aunt Jen had no idea this was going on. They were shocked by dad and Uncle Rodney's behaviour. After Torren and Alicia had a very loud go at each set of parents Aunt Jen and mamma promised they would sort out their respective husbands. I have my suspicions how both of them managed to keep the men in line, all I know is that my dad looked frustrated for a while and they slept with their door open for about two weeks. It was funny to watch."

Beth squeezed Ethan's hand again.

"I'll be back tomorrow. I have more to tell you. I've missed talking to you. I miss my best friend. Come back."

With a final squeeze of his hand, Beth got up and went back to her quarters she didn't realise that her dad was just outside Ethan's room listening to everything his daughter had said. He and Teyla wanted to make sure she was ok. Teyla went to check on her and found her gone they knew where she would be so John went to make sure she was fine. He had faced many enemies but he felt so helpless he couldn't help his daughter she was hurting. This was the worst thing about being a parent, having to watch while those you love suffer. He now realised why Beth never dated, she was in love with Ethan and had been for years. Teyla had suspected but they knew for certain now and they couldn't help her in any way. He made his way quietly back to his quarters.

The next night was similar she was in her pyjamas and made her way to the infirmary. She made sure to wait until it would be empty. She sat down in the chair by Ethan's bed and squeezed his hand. His colour looked slightly better than yesterday. One thing they had in common was the fact that both were obsessed with Harry Potter. They loved the books. She could remember when her parents read them to her before bed. Then when she could read them herself she was mesmerized. She brought the first book with her and began to read out aloud hopefully Ethan could hear and it may bring him back. This was the pattern for the next few days. Beth would come at night and read to her best friend. Her dad would always follow her there and stay in the shadows until she had finished. On the forth night she started the second book, while she read aloud she would squeeze his hand every so often. John had been running late and on his way to the infirmary he met up with Evan, they both made their way to Ethan's room and stood outside. They saw Beth sitting by Ethan's bed holding his hand and reading to him. Neither of them wanted to disturb her so they stayed outside and watched. She read for another thirty minutes then she closed the book and stood up and kissed Ethan on the forehead. Evan looked at John.

"You knew?" Evan said referring to the fact that Beth was in love with his son.

"Teyla and I had suspected but we didn't know for sure until a few days ago when she collapsed after hearing the news."

Beth turned around to leave and saw her dad and Uncle Evan at the door. She knew they saw her kiss Ethan, there was no point in hiding it. She walked to them and before she could say anything Uncle Evan said something to make her smile.

"My son's an idiot!"

Beth smiled a sad smile.

"Uncle Evan you know you can't help who you fall for or who you don't. Ethan is your pride and joy along with Dylan and Samantha and you know it."

"He's still an idiot."

Beth shook her head and kissed Uncle Evan then kissed and hugged her dad.

"Are you ok?" Her dad asked

"Yeah, I'll be better when he wakes up."

"He will. Just so you know Uncle Evan is right Ethan's an idiot!"

"I thought no man was good enough for your daughters?"

"No man is but if Ethan ever stopped being an idiot then he may meet with my approval, grudgingly."

"Dad nothing is going to happen, he doesn't see me like that. He never has and never will. I miss him so much. I thought there would be enough time to sort out our problems but then he had to go and be a hero and now he may not survive."

"You know his chances are getting better every day?"

"I know, I just don't want to lose my best friend."

A few nights later Beth had finished reading to Ethan, she got up still holding his hand and bent to kiss his forehead when she felt her hand being squeezed. She froze then it happened again.

"Ethan? Ethan? Can you hear me? You're in the infirmary. You're going to be fine."

Beth just started to cry she was so relieved. She didn't realise Torren was just outside the door. John had asked Torren to take over from him tonight as he was going to be away on a mission. Torren entered the room and could see Ethan trying to open his eyes. He called Aunt Jen and Uncle Evan straight away while he went to comfort his sister who turned into him and cried. Ethan managed to open his eyes and saw Bethany standing there crying on her brother's shoulder. He wondered what had made her so upset. He tried to speak but it was too hard. The next thing he knew the room was filled with his family. He couldn't see Bethany anymore. He struggled to stay awake. Torren had made sure that Beth got back to her room where she collapsed with exhaustion. She slept for 15 hours straight.

She woke with a start. Beth quickly got up and got ready. She made her way to the infirmary and found the whole Lorne family there she didn't want to intrude so went back to her quarters. She was satisfied that it wasn't a dream and that Ethan had in fact woken up. That night she was in her pyjamas which consisted of checked trousers and a t-shirt, she also wore a hoody to keep her warm. She made her way to Ethan's room in the infirmary, she knew he would be asleep but she had to see him. She quietly made her way into the room and sat in the chair by his bed. All of the wires and tubes had been removed. His colour was back to normal there were still a few bruises but they would fade with more time.

"I thought you weren't going to show up tonight. I tried to stay awake but I had to have a nap."

Beth's eyes flew to Ethan's.

"Ethan you're awake. How are you feeling? Do you need anything? I didn't mean to wake you I just had to see you."

"I'm ok. I heard you reading to me. It was weird. I tried to say something but nothing would come out. I just focussed on your voice."

Beth hesitantly held his hand and gave it a squeeze which was returned. They smiled at each other.

"I'm so glad you're awake. I better leave you and let you get some rest. Take care and I'll try and come back tomorrow."

Beth tried to leave but her hand was still in Ethan's and he wouldn't let go. She looked at him and he struggled to speak but managed to get out what he wanted to say.

"Bethany, I am so sorry for what I said.."

"Sshhh. It's ok. It's in the past we don't have to talk about it."

"Bethany I …"

"Ethan you need to rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

Beth bent down and kissed him on the forehead, she didn't think about what she did she was so used to doing it over the last couple of weeks it was just a reflex. Ethan now knew that he didn't imagine the other kisses and smiled.

A couple of days later Beth was in the infirmary talking to Ethan when Janet and David came in.

"Hey you should be sitting down taking it easy." Beth said to Janet.

"I'm fine, I don't need to sit. I'm pregnant not ill."

"Have you chosen any names yet? My dad will say that John is a good strong name."

"Yeah we've already received that email along with others with similar suggestions e.g. Rodney and Ronon. It's amazing all of them have sons yet none of them named them after them. What's with that? So now we have to figure a polite way to say those names are not what we want."

"You must be so excited. I can't wait. All the cute baby clothes that you can get. The shoes make me go all gooey inside and dungarees, what kid doesn't look good in dungarees?"

Janet and David just laughed. Ethan just grinned. There was something about babies that made Bethany completely nuts. She loved buying baby clothes and couldn't wait to become an aunt.

"I have to go I have a class in a few minutes, see you later."

"Well you two seem to be getting on well." Said David.

"We're getting there. I really hurt her. I said some things that I can never take back and that bugs me. Anyway how are you?"

"I'm fine thanks to you. You shouldn't have done that you know. It should be me in this bed not you."

"I couldn't risk you not seeing your kid. I don't have anyone so it was a no brainer."

"You don't have anyone? What about the person who just left the room? Remember the birthday present I gave you? I had no clue what to get you I went to Beth and asked her what I should get she just got this wrapped present out of her drawers. She told me what it was and that you would love it. She gave it to me just like that. She's special and if you can't see that there is something wrong with you." Janet said.

"I messed up, the things I said to her after she told me about you two were unforgivable."

A week later Beth was in her room when she heard her dad shout.

"Beth you have a visitor."

She was in her checked trousers, she had so many of them. They were so comfortable and she loved the pattern. She would always get more for her birthday and Christmas from her parents. She was so simple to buy for, books, DVDs and checked trousers she was happy. She walked out her hair tied at the top of her head in her trousers and a t-shirt.

"Do you really have to shout dad?"

"Yeah." He said with a grin.

She saw Ethan in the kitchen standing up with the aid of a walking stick.

"Ethan, what are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were going to be released today?"

Ethan smiled.

"I wanted to surprise you. Now that I'm up and about and you can't run away from me I came to apologise. I didn't mean the things I said. I was just so angry, embarrassed and hurt and I took it out on you. You were just being a really good friend and I hurt you. For that I am really sorry. Here."

Ethan handed her a wrapped box.

"Go on open it."

Beth unwrapped the box and looked inside and smiled.

"Popcorn."

"Wow, not as if you can get popcorn anywhere else." John said sarcastically while he opened the cupboard that was full of popcorn just to make his point.

"Dad!"

"No your dad is right but what's not in the box is my company every Wednesday for a month where you can choose ANY film and we'll watch it together."

Ethan looked towards John with a smug smile.

"Smartass." Whispered John

Beth just smiled.

They spent every Wednesday evening together, even after the month, apart from the times Ethan was on a mission. A lot of the time it was just them sometimes it would be the whole family or just the kids. They had gone back to the way things were before. One night when it was just them two in the rec room Ethan was inquisitive.

"Bethany why do you love rom coms so much? You know what's going to happen, boy meets girl and they'll eventually get together. Why do you waste your time watching them? It's the same with your books; you have a large collection of romance stories as well. Aren't they predictable?"

Beth opened her mouth to answer then closed it and took a deep breath and answered him.

"Real life sucks, when I watch a film or read a book I want a happy ending."

"That's it?"

"It gives me hope. I'm not the type to have many if any guys after me. I'm always the friend nothing more; I know what I look like. The films and books give me hope that someday there may be a guy who will look at me like my dad looks at my mum, he'll look at me and for him I'll be the most beautiful girl in the world." Beth whispered.

Before Ethan could respond to that Torren, Alicia, Jasmine and Salen joined them.

"Sorry to interrupt but our dads were driving us mad and we said we were going to meet you." Torren said.

"What have they been saying now?" Beth asked.

"It's the same thing again, again and again. Names for when they become grandfathers. Even mamma was getting fed up. We left before we said something that we may regret later."

"Are you guys expecting? That's great news…." Ethan said

"Whoa, whoa where did you get that from?"

"Well you just said that your dads were arguing about what they're going to be called when they're grandparents."

"Sorry you were probably in the infirmary when this insanity started. No we're not pregnant. But our respective dads, not parents, just dads think they need to sort out whose going to be called gramps, pops, grandpa and so on. They also went through a phase when they, and we haven't figured who, kept on leaving hints about becoming pregnant. It was funny at first until we discovered they stole our contraception. That was the last straw. We had to get our mums involved. It stopped after that but now they're still going on about what they'll be called when they do become grandfathers."

Ethan and the others chuckled at Torren, they'd never seen him this worked up before he was always so calm.

"Hey I don't know why you're laughing" Torren said to Jasmine and Salen "As soon as you have those wedding rings on your fingers they'll start on you! Uncle Ronon will be worse can you imagine "Salen do you need tips on how to get your wife pregnant?"" Torren said doing an impression of Ronon.

The horror on Jasmine and Salen's faces made the rest laugh.

"Huh, not so funny now is it? The men in this family are nuts. Even Uncle Ronon and Uncle Evan have started to make comments. It's as if we're deliberately trying not to get pregnant."

"Well you are using contraception." Beth said

Torren gave her one dirty look.

"I'm just saying. Calm down. When you're ready then it'll happen." Said Beth

"Try telling them that. It's worse since Janet and David announced they were expecting. All four men keeping making comments like 'Their parents must be so happy.' 'Their parents are so looking forward to becoming grandparents.' You two can't get married soon enough as far as I'm concerned."

Alicia just sat there giggling throughout the whole rant by her husband. She rubbed her hand up his arm trying to calm him down. Eventually he caught her close to him and she snuggled into him and she kissed him on the cheek. Beth saw this and had a wistful smile on her face. Ethan watched her and he couldn't believe that she thought she wasn't beautiful. She was absolutely stunning, always had been and always will be.

xxxxxxx

Ethan waited for Beth to finish her self-defence class. She was one of the best on the base not surprisingly seeing as her mum and Uncle Ronon trained her. After the last person had left he walked in she was in some track suit bottoms and a t-shirt, she was all sweaty and he could imagine what she would look like if they spent the night together.

"Hey."

"Ethan what are you doing here? I thought you were training the newbies?"

"Yeah, I'm just taking a break. I have a question to ask you."

"Oh ok. What is it?"

"Would you go with me to the new year's dance?"

"We're already going together."

"We were going as friends I want you to be my date."

Beth just stood there she couldn't believe what she just heard.

"I…I…I don't have any experience on dating I don't know what to do." Beth said with her head down she couldn't look at him she was too embarrassed, 23 and never been on a date how pathetic was that?

"What do you think we've been doing every Wednesday?" Ethan said as he lifted her chin up to look into her eyes.

Beth's eyes widened at this. She realised that their Wednesday nights could be seen as dates with one exception. Ethan could see her mind working and knew exactly what she was thinking.

"But we haven't…."

"We can take the physical side of the relationship slowly if you want. I didn't want to rush you." Ethan said then bent to kiss her cheek.

Beth smiled shyly.

"Bethany, will you be my date for the dance?"

Beth nodded and whispered yes. Ethan gave her another kiss on the cheek said bye and left. Beth stood there for a few minutes and smiled.

The day of the dance

"Hey Beth, have you seen your mum?" John asked as he walked into Beth's bedroom.

She was lounging around on her bed reading and listening to music from her ipod. She had to remove the earphones when her dad was talking to her.

"No. I think she mentioned something about going to the mainland to visit Uncle Halling as he wasn't feeling well."

"Do you know when she'll be back?"

"No, she didn't say but you know she wouldn't miss the dance especially the chance to see you in a tux. You know she loves seeing you in one."

"Er has she had a talk with you?"

"What about?"

"Er tonight?"

Her dad was looking more and more uncomfortable. He was going red and was avoiding looking at her. Beth couldn't understand what was making her dad act this way.

"Noooo."

When John heard this, his head just fell to his chest. He was looking at his feet. He really did not want to have this conversation with his daughter. It was bad enough with TJ, this was going to be worse. He just had the talk with Quinto and that was bad enough, if he didn't know any better he would have said that Teyla had planned this. She liked to see him squirm and even though she wasn't here to witness it she knew how awkward this will be for him. There should be a law against this thought John. He sat on Beth's bed next to her. She sat up obviously something was bothering her dad.

"Ok, apparently it's up to me to have the talk with you. It should be your mum but she's not here. Look this is going to be embarrassing for both of us so please do not interrupt just let me say my thing then you can add anything if you want. Ok?"

Beth nodded. She was worried about what had got her dad so concerned.

"I know you have feelings for Ethan and they're really … deep." John looked at Beth at this point waiting for her to agree. She nodded so he carried on. " Well when people have feelings, deep feelings for each other sometimes they want to express them physically… in private."

Beth's jaw just dropped. She couldn't believe that her dad was having this conversation with her. She remembered when she started her periods her dad didn't know how to treat her and Charin, which was weird as Jasmine had started hers a few years before. It took her mum to explain to her and her twin that when it came to 'female issues' their dad was completely terrified of speaking of such things. He was fine to face the wraith, the genii and the replicators but 'women's matters' completely undid him. All the Shepard ladies took after their mum, they had terrible period pains for the first few days of their cycles. Even though their dad couldn't talk about their monthly difficulties he made sure they were all as comfortable as they could be. He bought crisps for Beth, chocolate for Charin, sweets for Jasmine and of course chocolate covered popcorn for their mum. Every month, they would each find a new stock of the items at the foot of their beds that helped them get through the first few days. No one ever said anything it was like an open secret. The boys were as clueless as ever when it came to 'the time of the month' there was something about the Shepard males and female cycles, they were oblivious. However they did notice that the girls were getting extra treats which they didn't think were fair so when the girls got their treats the boys also had to get something, the boys didn't care what they got, they ate anything and everything.

"Er dad."

"Beth let me finish. Ethan is a great guy. I know he will treat you well. However you need to take care of yourself. No matter what a guy says you can't believe them. They're only after one thing. So you need to protect yourself. Do you understand me?"

Beth nodded reluctantly she didn't know where to look. She's never seen her dad that shade of red before.

"Dad! Do you expect me to sleep with Ethan on our first date?" Beth squeaked

"It's your choice it will always be your choice, do not let any guy tell you otherwise. I want you to be safe. You may be ready for a physical relationship but are you ready to become a parent? This is what you have to think about before you embark on a more adult… connection. Just be careful. I know you're an adult but you're still my baby. Take care."

John took something out of his pocket and placed it on Beth's bed. When Beth saw what it was she was so shocked she froze. Her dad got up quickly and left the room. On her bed was a box of condoms.

An hour later…

Ethan was going to be there in a few hours to pick her up for her first ever date. She couldn't stop looking at the box. Was it expected of her? Was she supposed to sleep with him tonight? She needed to know.

"Oh hi, come in. Is everything ok?" Ethan asked when he opened his door to see Bethany standing outside.

"I'm not sure. Something happened earlier and now I'm panicking over it and I really need to talk to someone but the only person I want to talk to is you but it's about you I want to talk about. Can you just pretend we're talking about someone else and give me your honest opinion?" Beth ended in a rush.

"Hey calm down, have a seat." He directed her to his bed.

Beth sat down and couldn't figure out how to start the conversation. Should she blurt it out? Find a roundabout way of getting to the subject? She had no idea how to start to the talk. She was looking around his room when her eyes landed on his bedside table and she thought she was shocked by her dad but that was nothing compared to this.

"I take it you're planning on a really busy night?" Beth said with a pointed glance to his bedside table.

Ethan just went completely red. He was so embarrassed. He didn't know where to look but thought the best thing was honesty.

"They're not mine. I mean they're mine but I didn't buy them or anything. They were given to me by 'well-meaning' members of our families, I hope they were well-meaning or they just wanted to embarrass the hell out of me and it worked."

Ethan ran his hand through his hair a sign he was really frustrated.

"Listen I have no intention of using those." Ethan said

"Oh?"

"That didn't come out right. What I meant to say was if and when we want to become …intimate we WILL use them but I have no reason to use them tonight. That's not what tonight's about. Tonight is about us dancing together, walking hand in hand and maybe, hopefully some kissing but nothing more. I swear."

"How many 'well-meaning' members of the family gave you a 'present'? Beth asked

"Let's not talk about that. The last day has been really weird. I mean seriously weird. When I see certain people I find myself jumping. I'd rather not talk about it if you don't mind. I just want to block out the last 24 hours. Let's just say you are very lucky. Are we ok?"

"I guess. What are going to do with…" Beth waved in the direction of the bedside table.

"I don't know. It's not the type of thing you can give away."

"Can't you leave them somewhere?"

"Would you take a box if you saw them lying somewhere? Besides supposing someone sees me leaving them somewhere?" Ethan shuddered at the thought. "Can you imagine? Grandpa Richard would announce on the communications systems 'please remember to not leave any boxes of condoms lying around.' You know everyone would find out it was me. They're better off staying here until I figure out what to do with them."

"Ethan you have twelve boxes of condoms!"

"Please can we forget about this? I'm going to pick you up in a couple of hours and we're going to have a great time. Dancing! A great time dancing! Ok?"

Ethan was ever so slightly nervous. He stood outside Bethany's place. He really hoped that her parents were not at home. The door opened and he saw his Uncle John, his heart skipped a beat. He didn't know what to expect. He knew one thing though there was no way he was going to turn his back on his Uncle. The man made him nervous. Uncle John stepped to the side to allow his nephew in. Ethan carefully walked into the quarters. There was an awkward silence. He didn't know what to say and his Uncle was just staring at him and making him even more uncomfortable and Ethan didn't think that was possible after this morning but how wrong was he. He was about to open his mouth when he heard something behind him and turned to see Aunt Teyla and Bethany walk out together. Stunning was an understatement he thought. His jaw just opened. He didn't know how long he stood there like that but he heard Uncle John move towards Aunt Teyla.

All the uncomfortable moments since yesterday made sense now. He would gladly go through that every day for a year just for this one moment. He thought back to the first 'incident'. The one with his so called father…

"Ethan, you love your sister don't you?" Evan asked his son.

"Yeah you know I do. What's brought this on?"

"Well what if I told you that someone was messing with her, hurt her feelings, what do you think I would do?"

"Who's hurt her? I didn't know she had a boyfriend. She kept that quiet. What did he do?"

"Just answer the question."

"Well I think WE would make sure he knew not to mess with the Lornes. You've always taught me to be patient and I think that would be our advantage. This idiot would think he's got away with whatever he did to Sam but maybe weeks or months later he would have a terrible 'accident' and he wouldn't have a clue that it was because of what he did. He wouldn't see it coming. Then there would be the not so subtle things like problems with his toilet not flushing, all his uniforms being ruined, the temperature setting being on minus 20 for his quarters and other trivial things but they would add up and eventually he would ask for a transfer back to the SGC. That would be after the others would get involved."

Ethan had an evil smile on his face at the end of his answer. His dad noticed this.

"Ethan for the next couple of minutes I'm not your dad, I'm Beth's Uncle. What you just said is absolutely true and if you hurt Beth at all you will be on the receiving end of all you've just mentioned and much, much more. Are we clear?"

Ethan just sat there stunned. His dad thought he would hurt Bethany? His dad just threatened him. The look in his dad's eyes meant he was serious. All Ethan could do was absently nod his head. Then his dad gave him a slap on the back, placed a package on the table to signify the end of the conversation and his dad carried on as if nothing weird had just happened. Ethan honestly thought maybe he had dreamed the creepy conversation. He couldn't finish his breakfast he lost his appetite. He knew the conversation happened after he spent some time with Uncle Ronon.

"Hey thanks for helping me with this Ethan."

"That's ok Uncle Ronon. Where do you want these?"

"Just put them with the rest."

Ethan placed a box full of knives in the floor of the gym. There were three other boxes there already.

"Why do you have so many?" Ethan asked

"Some people collect comics I collect knives."

Ethan knew the first part was a dig at his Uncle Rodney.

"Why did you decide to clean them now? Why knives?"

"It was time and besides a knife is the best weapon. It won't run out of ammunition when you need it the most and they are found everywhere. From small knives to swords there is an art to knife fighting. There is elegance to them. Your opponent never sees them coming. Do you know how much damage I could do to someone with just this piece of metal? Imagine that someone hurt a member of my family I would be able to sneak up behind them and cut their throat from ear to ear and they wouldn't even know what happened. I would be able to throw one at someone if I could not get close enough. If I wanted to torture a person, I could ever so slowly make numerous cuts and maybe 'accidently' drop some vinegar or salt or even both onto the person."

Ethan gulped loudly.

"You seemed to have thought about this a lot."

"I have a wife and kids. Two of those kids are daughters. No one will mess with my family especially with my girls. Any boy that tries anything with them will not see me coming." Ronon replied with a feral grin. "As well as daughters I have numerous nieces who I think of as daughters and they mean just as much to me as Lilani and Jemeilia do. If anyone even thinks about harming one hair on their heads they will have me to deal with, am I clear?" Ronon held up the knife so Ethan could see his reflection in the blade.

Ethan gulped again and nodded. He got the message. What he didn't understand was why did his dad and Uncle Ronon all of a sudden think he was going to hurt Bethany? He would rather die than let that happen.

"That's for you make sure you use them!" Ronon said giving Ethan a package like the one he got from his dad.

It was just his luck that he would run into his Uncle Rodney. It was as if he was waiting for him outside the gym.

"Hey do you want to come and see my new experiment?"

Uncle Rodney asked in a way that made it impossible to say no. So Ethan made his way to his Uncle's lab. His Uncle talked all the way there. Not that he needed to reply to any of the comments.

"So this experiment is about a more efficient way of transporting things without using so much energy. It will change the way we travel. Just think instead of having to travel short distance by puddle jumper or if you were back on Earth, by train or bus you could use the McKay Transporter. Catchy name don't you think?"

Ethan just nodded. It was the best way to deal with his Uncle. You didn't really have to answer just nod and he'd be happy.

"So you'll be the first one to witness the greatness that is your Uncle, ready?"

Rodney didn't even wait for Ethan to nod he switched the machine on and the apple that was supposed to be transported across the room exploded and covered both Rodney and Ethan. Ethan was shocked, he was wiping the apple mush from his eyes when he looked to his Uncle expecting to see him upset that his experiment didn't work but he was smiling. Ethan couldn't understand it. This was not his Uncle.

"Why are you so happy? It didn't work?"

"I know that Ethan do you not think I know it didn't work? Are you the only one covered in apple puree? I'm not blind you know. The best thing about being a scientist is the fact that you can 'discover' things by accident. I mean thankfully I only have one daughter and she is totally happy with Torren but if I had another and her boyfriend treated her badly or hurt her in some way well I could ask him to help me with this project and he could be a test subject and I would obviously pretend to be upset when he blew up so I wouldn't be a suspect. It's a good idea don't you think? I mean I can still use it like this as I have six nieces seven if you include Madison to look out for. It's great isn't it? Maybe you can be my next test subject when I move onto human testing seeing as you're going out with Beth tomorrow night. Make sure you treat her right or else and use these." Rodney laughed manically at this and gave Ethan a familiar looking package.

Subtlety and Uncle Rodney did not belong in the same sentence. He got the point though, it was hard not to. If he hurt Beth then some unfortunate person who had upset his Uncle Rodney would be cleaning up his body mush for the next week. He was starting to get a headache. He had no intention of hurting Bethany but the fathers in his life were making him extremely nervous. Who determined if he hurt Bethany? He was going to have to watch his back. The men he looked up to his whole life had scared the crap out of him. Well Uncle Ronon always scared him as well as his dad. His dad was easy going until you did something wrong then you saw a completely different side to him. This was the first time though that he saw the creepy mad scientist that is Uncle Rodney. He finally understood why some of the expedition was weary around his uncle, he totally understood it now.

Ethan made his way back to his quarters. He thought he could hide for the rest of the day. He didn't want to see anyone else. He was so paranoid now all he needed was Uncle John to find him and 'have a talk with him'. He'd hide out in his quarters and if anyone came he would just ignore them. He opened his quarters to find his mum and aunts sitting around as if it was absolutely normal for them to invade someone's privacy. This was not going to be good Ethan thought. However bad it was with the men of the family he did not want to have any type of conversation with the women of the family.

"Ethan please forgive us for intruding into your personal space but we felt the need to talk to you in private." Teyla began.

"Yes Ethan we thought that it would be better to talk to you here where no one would eavesdrop." His mum continued

"We know that you will treat my daughter with the utmost respect and that you value your friendship with her. We also know that you are a healthy young man who has … needs" Ethan felt his blood drain from his face this could not be happening he thought. "and Beth may also have the same needs as you. We only want you to be safe and happy. We hope you have a wonderful night tomorrow. Beth is looking forward to it immensely. Take care."

One by one they kissed him on the cheek and left his quarters. He really hoped that was a nightmare and that he would wake up in a minute because to have that happen in real life was just too embarrassing. What the hell did he do to deserve a day like today he thought? He noticed there was a paper bag left on his bedside table he opened it to find four boxes of condoms presumably one from each of them. How the hell could a guy use condoms that his mum and Aunts bought for him? That was just too weird. He collapsed onto his bed hoping to erase the day or pray for the next to arrive quickly whichever was quicker. He couldn't wait for the day to end. He managed to fall asleep quite quickly.

He woke up with a start he could swear that someone was in his quarters. He looked at his watch and it was 2 am. He heard the noise again and turned over to find Uncle John sitting by his bed cleaning his gun slowly. It seemed as if he'd been there a while. John looked up to watch Ethan.

"I thought it was about time that we have a conversation. You're going out with Beth tonight. I just want you to know that I know what men your age think about I was once your age. I just thought I should warn you, you hurt Beth and they'll never find your body. I love you like a son but Beth is my daughter and you hurt her like you did before I will come after you. I don't know exactly how you hurt her before but I know it was you. I never want to see that look in her eyes again. Now things may or may not work out between you two, that's between you two but if I ever see that look in her eyes that says she's not worthy of someone's love there will be nowhere where you can hide. Now why don't you get some rest, you have a big night tonight. You look really tired. See you tonight."

John gathered up his stuff but left a package on the table and walked out with a spring in his step as if nothing happened. Ethan couldn't get back to sleep after that he was too freaked out. He decided to read a bit. At about 5 am he fell asleep only to be woken up at 6 for his run with Torren and Salen. They were way too happy. The three ran their usual five miles around Atlantis. When the kids were old enough and they wanted to they joined John and Ronon on their morning runs. The three of them carried on with it, whereas the others either preferred to run in the gym or do other exercises to keep them at their best.

"Salen and I have to talk to you." Torren struggled to say at the end of their run. "We're going to keep this short and sweet. You hurt Beth we hurt you. Got it?"

Ethan was again stunned and knew that these two who were always friendly had nasty tempers and when you hurt someone they cared about you better run and hide. So he did the only thing he could. He nodded.

They slapped him on his back.

"Great see you tonight."

"Don't be late."

Ethan just stood there as he watched them walk away.

… Bethany was wearing a dress a knee length dress in brown. It was a modest dress. It covered her cleavage, it had thin straps and there were some sparkly things at her waist. She had her hair down and no make-up. She was stunning. He didn't know how long he stood there just staring but he felt a cuff on the back of his head and that made him realise he'd been staring.

"Wow, wow. I mean you're stunning when you're wearing your training outfit let alone now."

Beth smile blossomed on her face. She was pleased by what he said. John moved towards Teyla.

"You look pretty good yourself in that tux." Replied Beth

"Are you going to carry those around all night? I'm pretty sure they don't go with your tux but what do I know?" Said John

Ethan had a blank look on his face. What was his Uncle talking about?

"Dad! Behave!" Beth said

"What did I say?"

"John, leave Ethan alone. I seem to remember a certain colonel being tongue tied when he came to tell me how he felt."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Ethan, are those for me?" Beth said nodding to the flowers in his hands.

That snapped Ethan out of his trance.

"Yeah, I bought a bunch for you and one for your mum."

When he gave the bigger bunch to Beth they saw that there was also a smaller one. Both Beth and Teyla loved the flowers and buried their heads to smell the gorgeous flowers.

"Suck up." John muttered

"John!"

"Dad!"

"Ethan, do not mind your Uncle he believes after 26 years of marriage that romance is not needed. I do not receive any cards for my birthday or Valentine's Day from my husband. In fact my husband pays your Uncle Rodney comics to remind him of the special occasions in his life. I get a 'Happy Birthday' or 'Happy Valentine's day' then a peck on my cheek. The flowers are lovely. Thank you. I am glad that romance is not dead even though some of us have to live without it." Teyla finished with a pointed look to her husband.

"Ha,…, ha. I didn't know you knew about the comics." John said somewhat sheepishly.

Teyla just raised an eyebrow at him.

"I think you two should go we will see you there." Teyla said

Beth and Ethan quickly left. The mess was transformed from the pedestrian canteen to an elegant ballroom. The decorations were amazing. Everyone received a glass of Champagne when they entered. Beth couldn't believe how good everyone looked. She started going to these parties since her eighteenth year and every year she was amazed by the decorations and the gorgeous dresses. The men always looked good. Her dad let the men choose between dress blues or tuxes and no surprise most chose a tux. This was the first year she had a date, technically this was her first date.

Beth loved dancing. She loved teaching it as well. Her dad and Grandpa Richard made it mandatory for all members of the expedition to learn how to dance. There were apparently several dances in the early days of the expedition but certain members of the expedition, her dad, Grandpa Richard and Uncle Evan to name a few, were reluctant to have anymore as there were few men who could dance and those that could had a long line of women to make happy. So a month before each dance there were classes available and you could only attend the dance if you could prove your competency as a dancer. There were a lot of complaints when the new rule was introduced but they soon died down by the time the next dance came around. Everyone enjoyed themselves more and her dad, Grandpa Richard and Uncle Evan enjoyed dancing with their loved ones. There was a skeleton crew on tonight. There would be a change of shift in a couple of hours so every member could enjoy the party.

Ethan couldn't take his eyes off of her. She felt so magnificent. She danced with all her Uncles, Grandpa and her dad. The rest of the time she was with Ethan. They didn't stay long after midnight. John and Teyla saw Beth leading Ethan out of the mess. John didn't know how to feel about that. He wished he had no clue what was going to happen.

xxxxxxx

"Hey Ethan, do you have your wallet with you?"

"Of course"

"Can we make a little detour?"

"What are you up to?"

"You'll find out in a minute."

They made their way to one of the many stockrooms. The stock rooms ran on the honour system. It was full of things that you may want to buy, like a mini supermarket. If you wanted snacks you could go there and leave money and take what you wanted, the same if you wanted shampoo or any other personal items. The price list was on the wall. It worked quite well. They got to the stockroom and Beth found what she was looking for.

"Why do you need these?" Ethan asked.

"I just want to give my dad a taste of his own medicine. Can I have the cash?"

Ethan emptied his wallet and placed the money where the boxes were. Beth took all of them.

"We need to go to your room as well." Beth said

They got back to the Shepard quarters. Beth went to change quickly. She told Ethan to choose a film. She changed into her pyjamas, tied her hair up and went to work. Ethan came to have a look to see what she was up to. He stood outside her parents room slack jawed.

They settled down to watch a film. There was popcorn and other snacks as well as drinks on the coffee table. They were getting into the film. Beth had her head on Ethan's shoulder. They heard a noise. The next thing they knew they saw her parents coming in and they were kissing. Both of her parents didn't notice either her or Ethan. Beth and Ethan looked at each other. They were too shocked to do anything. Her parents must have thought they were alone, how they couldn't hear the film was beyond her. She heard her mum give a sexy giggle and her dad seemed to have lost his jacket and waistcoat since coming into the room whereas her mum had lost her shoes. Beth was trying to figure out how to let them know they were there when her dad showed some awesome skill and her mum was left in her underwear. The dress was on the floor. She heard her dad make an appreciative growl towards the lingerie her mum was modelling. Thankfully her dad covered their view of her almost naked mum. Then, as they made their way further into the living room, she saw her dad's shirt come off and her mum was all over him.

"uh hum"

"cough, cough."

Both Beth and Ethan made noises so her parents would know they were not alone. She definitely, and she was pretty sure Ethan felt the same, did not want to see how her parents conceived either her or her brothers and sisters. Both her parents froze when they heard the noises. Neither wanted to turn around, her father decided he was the best one to have a look considering Teyla's state of undress. He made sure that Teyla was behind him. He felt her bend down to retrieve his shirt presumably to put it on. He turned around to find his daughter and her date staring wide eyed at them. He felt himself go red.

"What are you two doing here?" accused her dad.

"We're watching a film and I live here. Did you forget?"

"We thought, I thought you two would be … you know."

"Well you thought wrong. Is this why you made both Quinto and Matt have a sleep over tonight so you two could have the place to yourselves?" asked an astonished Beth

"No,… no. I don't know what you're talking about. Any way we don't have to explain ourselves to you." John replied

This was spoilt by his face becoming even redder if that were possible and Teyla giggling behind his back.

"You're not helping Teyla." John whispered

"Sorry."

John knew she wasn't really. She wasn't the one that had to face their daughter and her date. They would never live this down. He knew his kids well enough that they would deliberately hang around to spoil any future amorous spontaneity that either he or Teyla would have. They would be confined to their bedroom which wasn't too bad but tonight was the first night where they were supposed to have the place to themselves, just their luck thought John. Teyla pinched him to remind him she was behind with only his shirt to cover her. John started walking backwards to their bedroom luckily Teyla understood what he was doing as he was protecting her from the youngsters' view. It was slow progress.

"Aunt Teyla, Uncle John may not be the most romantic guy but at least he'd save you if you needed it judging by the mouth-to-mouth we just saw." Ethan said with a big grin on his face.

Both Teyla and Beth started to laugh. John was going to punch his nephew and made a step in that direction when he felt Teyla's arms around his waist to stop him.

"Smart mouth"

"John please do not spoil the rest of this night." Teyla purred

John still wanted to punch his nephew especially as he now had a smug look on his face.

"Dad." Beth said as she got her laughter under control. "Dad you know I love you right? Well I've left a couple of presents in your room to show you how much. The first is pretty obvious the other is on your bedside table. I love you."

John's eyes went soft at his daughter's declaration.

"I love you too."

John and Teyla continued to back towards their bedroom. He heard the door open and felt Teyla's gasp. The floor felt weird. When he turned around and saw the room he was shocked. Every surface including the whole of the floor was covered with condoms. Different coloured little packets were everywhere. The lights reflected off of the shiny square sachets, it made it look as if they were in a disco. Just as their bedroom door was shutting, Beth and Ethan heard the laughter of her mother and the distinct voice of her dad…

"BETHANY AYANNA EMMAGEN SHEPARD!"

… just as the door closed. Beth and Ethan just burst out laughing. They laughed so much they cried. Beth wished she saw her dad's reaction, wished she had evidence to show the rest of the family. Eventually they stopped and carried on watching the film. Beth was feeling sleepy after a while and leaned back onto Ethan's shoulder. They ended up lying down on the sofa, Ethan holding Beth in front on him. They fell asleep like that. John came out of his room to get a drink hours later, the TV was still on and the two pranksters were in a deep sleep. He took the blanket that was on the other sofa and covered both of them. He picked up his and Teyla's clothes and went to get that drink. There were even condoms underneath the bed covers. His daughter got him good. It took Teyla ages to stop laughing. Once they cleared all the condoms he remembered the 'second' present. It was an envelope on the bed side table. When he opened it there was a piece of paper with a list of boys name on one side and girls on the other. At the top of one side read

"Just in case you don't want to use the first present here are a list of names to help you if there is a new addition to the Shepard family."

John remembered when he read that. He was stunned. He gave it to Teyla who surprise surprise found it funny. At least they were able to finish what they started when they entered their quarters. He and Teyla had a magical night. John grinned at the memory and made his way back to his bedroom.

Beth and Ethan woke up to find themselves surrounded by family. There were numerous cousins sitting around the TV eating breakfast. When they got up they saw everyone was there. Uncle Rodney, Aunt Jen and their three kids, Carson, Alicia and Declan as well as Uncle Ronon, Aunt Amelia and their four, Salen, Kaydon, Lilani and Jameilia and the rest of Ethan's, Uncle Evan, Aunt Izzy, Dylan and Samantha and her families, Torren, Jasmine, Charin, Quinto and Matt. It was a full house.

"Hey sleeping beauty and the beast are awake." Declared John

"John" Teyla admonished

"What's up with you? Did you get out of the grumpy side of the bed this morning?" Rodney asked

"No Uncle Rodney. Dad is still embarrassed by what happened last night." Replied Beth

"Why what happened?" said Rodney intrigued

"Beth! Don't even think about it." Her dad said

There was total silence. Everyone was interested to hear what Beth would say.

"Oh nothing, just that Ethan and I saw mum and dad 'cleaning their room'!"

The Shepard children reacted in different ways, the older ones, Torren, Jasmine and Charin all giggled whereas the youngsters, Quinto and Matt just groaned.

"What? What does that mean? What am I missing?" Rodney asked looking around.

"Nothing!" John quickly replied

"I think you and Aunt Jen say that she's giving you a 'back massage' when you have a 'sore back'. Said Torren who obviously got it from Alicia

"Oh mum and dad says 'they're having a nap together'" this came from Dylan

"Dad just says don't knock on the door unless one of us are bleeding!" said Kaydon.

Everyone looked at Ronon and Amelia.

"What? Your kids knew what you were doing no matter how much you prettied it up. We're direct. You have a problem with that?"

There were a lot of resounding no's to that question.

"I remember there was a time when if both of you were on base then we couldn't bring anyone back. It was so embarrassing. Everyone knew what you two were doing in there. We spent our free time at Uncle Rodney's, Uncle Ronon's or Uncle Evan's. Do you remember?" Beth asked the rest.

"That's why we couldn't come here? Oh now it makes sense." Ethan said

"What are you talking about you've all spent a lot of time here. You didn't spend a lot of time at your Uncles' places."

"Dad when you and mamma were on base together after one of you had just come back from a mission you only saw us at breakfast and at night because most of the time you and mamma were busy 'cleaning your room'." Jasmine said

"Oh come on, now you're exaggerating. We were not that bad."

The Shepard children just looked at each other and the others looked anywhere but at John and Teyla. The looks did not escape either Teyla or John. They looked at each other and started to blush.

"What do you mean 'were not that bad'? You may not be going on many missions now but you still like to 'clean your room'. A LOT!" stated Matt

"We don't know what you're talking about." said John

"Oh please, don't you think it's a bit weird that we, as in all of us, your six children, our Uncles, Aunts, all the cousins and even Grandpa Richard, all let you know on the coms that we'll be back within half an hour? We're giving you time to present a respectable front because believe me we do not want to see something that would mean us seeing Dr Ying every week for the rest of our lives!" Matt said

"Excuse me?!"

"You really didn't know? I just thought it was an open secret, something that we never talked about. I didn't know you didn't know. Whoops! Seriously didn't you notice?" Matt said

John and Teyla both went blood red. It was more noticeable on John.

"I mean do you remember after mamma came back after a week of looking after Uncle Halling? We made ourselves scarce but you two didn't even check to see where your three children who still live with you were. I was waiting for you to contact me and ask me where I was or when I would be home but you didn't. I tried contacting you but neither of you answered. I ended up staying with Torren and Alicia that night that was nice. They took pity on me seeing as my own parents didn't seem to care about their youngest child. I'm sure they really liked that as they were newly married! At least I was not left alone to starve. Someone was there to look after me." Matt said slightly dramatically.

"Oh please. Stop being so melodramatic! You know you have so many places you could spend the night if you needed one, you being a neglected child and all." John said

"I had to stay with Charin that night seeing as you failed to get in contact with your youngest daughter. It's amazing that you couldn't remember any of your children considering you were re-enacting the process!" Beth chimed in.

"You know Teyla, this is why Torren was enough for me. I didn't need or want any more children. Look what we've ended up with, ungrateful excuses for children." John said as he was shaking his head.

Teyla just laughed. They all knew that John loved all of his kids plus all the nieces and nephews as he thought of them as his own.

"I mean aren't you two too old too…" Matt began "Ow! What was that for?" Matt asked as he was rubbing his head after both of his parents cuffed him on the back of his head.

"Do not even think of finishing that thought. Just for your information when you were younger we found it difficult to find time 'to clean our room' because we had to look after you ungrateful lot. Well I wanted to let you fend for yourselves but your mum insisted that I read to you, feed you and spend some quality time with you. That was a waste of time." John declared

"Yes John it seems as if we have raised a lot of ill-mannered people." Teyla added

"Did you two even think of me, your second son? I had to beg a space on the floor from Uncle Rodney. I had to beg on my knees for them to take me in for a few hours so I wouldn't freeze out in the cold. It was a hard time for me to know that I was abandoned by my very own parents. I cried myself to sleep that night. I didn't want to be a burden so I left early in the morning. It was the worst night of my life!" Quinto said

"Oh please, I thought Matt was dramatic, he's nothing compared to you! You have your own room at Uncle Rodney's as you spend so much time over there! When you two have to test a theory or complete an experiment we hardly see either of you. If it wasn't for the DNA test I insisted on I would swear you were his son. He can have you if you're going to be difficult." said John "See Teyla we should have stuck with just Torren."

"I believe you are right John, we have wasted so much time with these five. Torren was enough."

"Hey, he's always been your favourite, everyone knows that!"

"Yeah, parents shouldn't have favourites!"

"The others don't pit their children against each other!"

"The others care about their children. I wonder what it must be like to have parents that care?"

"It must be wonderful. Maybe they can adopt us?"

The Aunts, Uncle and cousins just laughed while the Shepard children closest to either John or Teyla received a cuff on the head which was unfortunate for Matt as he was close to both parents.

Torren sat there with a smug smile until his brothers and sisters started to have a go at him. Eventually they Shepard children stopped their bickering.

In the silence that ensued Rodney and John continued their argument of what each one will be called if and when they finally become grandfathers. The others just grinned whereas Torren and Alicia just groaned. Torren had had enough. He had an idea of how to solve the issue and knew how to make both grandfathers adhered to the final decision. He got up to get something from Alicia's bag. He sat back down and Alicia was standing talking with the women. Torren held out a number of envelopes for his dad and Uncle Rodney to choose.

"What's this?" Rodney asked

"Just pick one we're going to end this now before I do something to the both of you."

The envelopes each had a piece of card in them with a title for a grandfather. Torren and Alicia decided to let fate decide. The titles included were, Gramps, Granddad, Pops, Pappy, Nana, Dada, Abuelo, Nonno and Opa. Silence descended in the room. Everyone else did find the on-going argument entertaining, most believed that John just carried on with it to infuriate Rodney and it worked. Both men looked at each other than at Torren. They each reached out and picked an envelope. John opened his first, he really didn't care what his grandkids would call him as long as they were healthy and happy he would be fine. It was just fun to irritate Rodney. He pulled out his card and saw the word POPS and showed it to everyone. He was happy with it.

"Oh come on. How is that fair? He gets the cool name."

"Just open your one." John instructed.

Rodney opened his envelope and tried to hide the card but failed. He looked at it and just groaned and rested his head on the table holding the card up for everyone to see. There was a couple of seconds of silence then everyone started to laugh. On the card was the word GRAMPS. Rodney knew he would now forever be known as Grumpy Gramps, great he thought.

"Why does this always happen to me? Seriously if we were to work out the probability of one person having the bad luck that I do it would be so close to zero but noooooo with me, the probability of something bad happening is close to one. Tell me, how is that fair?"

It didn't help that John was just sitting back with a massive grin on his face loving the misery on his friend's face.

"Pops has a nice ring to it don't you think?" He asked generally.

"Well you two have seven months to get used to your names or you won't see let alone hold your grandchild. Understand?"

Rodney and John had started to argue when both heard what Torren had said and they looked at each other to see if they both heard the same thing. Everyone else was silent waiting for the men's reactions.

"What?"

"Did you say..?"

Then Torren felt a cuff on the back of his head from Uncle Rodney. Rodney turned to John.

"THIS IS HOW YOU RAISE YOUR SON. HE SITS WHILE HIS WIFE MY DAUGHTER STANDS WHILE CARRYING HIS CHILD? Some father you are." Rodney shouted then turned to Torren "Hey get up, some husband you are. You WILL look after Alicia or I'll set Ronon and her brothers onto you, you understand?"

"Hey Rodney, you leave my son alone."

"Thanks dad. OW. What was that for?" Torren asked his dad after he received a cuff on the back of his head from him.

"As much as it pains me to agree with your Uncle Rodney he's right. Get up and make Alicia sit down."

"Make her sit down? You have met my wife right? She'd kick my butt if I ever tried to make her do something."

Torren saw his father and his three Uncles step forward as if they were going to do some damage to him. He quickly got up and went to his wife who was giggling and finding the behaviour of the men funny.

"Hey baby would you like to sit down before you become a widow?"

Alicia kissed him on the cheek. She stepped towards the chair Torren had just vacated but stood behind it. She looked at each of the four men and settled longer on both John and her dad.

"Let me tell you something. I love all of you but if you think that for the next seven months you four will hover over me and treat me as if I'm an invalid you have another thing coming. I'm pregnant not sick. If you four have any hope of spending anytime with our son or daughter then I suggest you change your behaviour. Understood?" Alicia said with steely determination.

The four men nodded their heads while giving Torren various looks letting him know this was not the end.

"I remember when mamma was pregnant with Quinto and Matt. You didn't hover that much. In fact mamma carried on as normal until she was too huge, I mean pregnant to do anything herself." Said Torren

"Your father worried every time I was with child. You know he worries. By the time Quinto and Matthew were on the way he knew what I needed help with and how much I would accept. However every morning he would make sure I had my tea. He would also accommodate my cravings which were different for all of you. He would rub my back all the time. He took really good care of me especially when I became emotional and would cry at anything. He would take care of the rest of you after having come back from a mission just so I could have a rest. He has always been the best husband and father I could ask for. I think we sometimes forget that the expectant fathers are worried and that shows itself by them being somewhat clingy."

John stood there with a smug smile on his face and he stuck his tongue out at his son. Torren just shook his head. He wasn't going to win this so he just gave up.

"How far are you? How long have you known?" Jasmine asked

"Mum confirmed it yesterday." Alicia said

"WHAT! You knew since yesterday and didn't even tell me? What don't you trust your own husband?" demanded Rodney.

"Rodney!" Jen said "Just congratulate your daughter and son in law." Jen ordered.

Everyone got up to congratulate the happy couple. Where Alicia received hugs and kisses so did Torren from the female members of the family but also very hard 'back slaps', painful handshakes and tight hugs from the male members. He knew each of these carried a warning 'look after her or you'll have to answer to me'.

"You may not feel that protective at the moment but when you start to see Alicia get bigger then it will hit you. Then you will worry about everything. It's still new at the moment. Give it another month then you'll turn into a neurotic man like all four of us did. You dad was the worst. He did it five times." Ronon declared

"You mean four times." Beth said

"No five, he worried a lot when Torren was on the way even though he felt he didn't have a right to. That was nothing to when you and your sister were preparing to arrive. The morning sickness seemed worse as well as the mood swings. You know your father, he researched a lot and bothered your Aunt Jen everyday as he thought there was something wrong. He wanted to be prepared just in case." Said Ronon

"I never knew that." Said Teyla

"He knew he was behaving erratically so he made sure to let you rest and present a calm front but would come and share his worries with us. Why do you think we went on so many runs?"

Teyla went to John and hugged him. She knew he was concerned whenever she became pregnant she just never knew how much. She remembered after Jasmine was born he said that their family was complete. A year later she mentioned having another child and John reluctantly agreed. They were then blessed with the twins. A few years later she still wanted to increase the size of her family but decided that John would never agree to another child after the twins. He knew there was something wrong and managed to get it out of her but he couldn't allow Teyla going through another pregnancy. She accepted his decision she couldn't go against his wishes. They both had to agree. It came as a surprise when she became with child again. She was in the infirmary having her annual check-up when Carson gave her the good news.

"Well you seem determined to populate Atlantis with as many Shepard/ Emmagens as possible. You're pregnant again. Congratulations lass."

"Excuse me? I'm afraid that you must be mistaken."

"There's no mistake."

Teyla just sat there. She couldn't believe it. Carson had to call John to the infirmary. When he arrived he was concerned about Teyla as Carson didn't go into detail. He walked into the infirmary to find Teyla sitting on a bed staring off into space. She didn't acknowledge him even when he was standing right in front of him.

"She's received some news. I thought she would be happy but as you can see she's not."

"What's the news? Is she ill? Is it terminal?"

"No, no nothing like that."

"John I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. Please forgive me?"

"Teyla what are you sorry for?"

"I'm pregnant."

John just stood there. Shock was an understatement.

"Carson are you sure? We have been really careful." Teyla said

"Well lass you do realise that no contraception is 100% fool proof?"

"No I didn't. John I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. It does take two anyway you wanted another child."

"Yes I did but not like this. Both of us were to agree. I did not do this on purpose."

"I know that. You would never do something like that. Maybe it was meant to be. I mean both of us have been so careful yet we still get pregnant. It was meant to be. I just hope it's not another set of twins. Wow five kids. Five. Mckay will have something to say about this."

A couple of years later…

"Seriously do you two not do anything else? What are you rabbits? Pregnant again! Six kids! Rather you than me. Don't get me wrong I love mine, yours, Ronon's and Lorne's plus Jeannie's but SIX! Wow you two are brave. Have you heard of contraception? Do you want me to book an appointment with Carson or Jen for you? Ow!"

John just cuffed him on the back of his head for the smartass remark.

"For your information, not that it's any of your business, we did use contraception but they're not 100% fool proof, as a scientist I would expect you to know that."

"Just accept that fact that John has determined sperm." Ronon said

John and Rodney just gaped at him with mouths open. It was very rare to make both John and Rodney speechless at the same time and Ronon couldn't resist it. He had to make that comment. John chuckled at Rodney's reaction. Teyla and he found out that morning that they were expecting again. They both had this feeling and went to see Jen who confirmed that they were expecting their sixth child. They were not as surprised as they had been with Quinto. They used protection and they still became pregnant. John loved being a dad and Teyla loved being a mother. They believed all their children were meant to be and they loved all of them and their numerous cousins. Both Teyla and John felt they were truly blessed to have all their children.

xxxxxxx

Beth woke up to find another package on her bed. It was another hoodie. Her dad was the best. For a few months now she would find a parcel on her bed that would contain a hoodie. She loved each and every one of them. She got ready and was wearing her newest hoodie. She went to the kitchen and saw her dad there sitting and reading something on his tablet having his breakfast. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.

"You're the best dad ever!" declared Beth

"Hey, morning Sunshine! Thanks what did I do to deserve that?"

"Just being yourself. I love you so much. Thanks for all the hoodies!"

"I love you too. Er what hoodies?"

"The hoodies you've been leaving on my bed for the last few months."

Beth came around to sit beside her father.

"Beth I haven't bought you any hoodies."

"Yes you did. It's like when Jasmine was sick you would bring her a snow globe every few weeks to cheer her up and she was mad about them, with Torren it was comic book t-shirts when he broke his leg and with Charin it was soft toys."

"Yeah I did bring all of those but I have had nothing to do with your hoodies. I swear."

Beth looked at her dad and realised that he was telling the truth. So who could have brought her the hoodies and known about their family tradition she wondered. John looked at his daughter as she was lost in her thoughts. Someone knew her really well and knew buying her jewellery, flowers or chocolate wouldn't cut it with her. He had a pretty good idea who the hoodies were from but would his youngest daughter figure it out and the reason for them he wondered.

"So what you have to ask yourself is who knew about our family tradition and who knows of your love for hoodies?"

"The whole family knows about it. That doesn't narrow it down."

"Ok maybe ask yourself why send you the hoodies?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let me ask you something, would it make any sense to you if I bought your mum big pieces of jewellery?"

"No of course not, she's not into that. She would prefer something simple, a photo of all of us or just some quiet time with you. Mum doesn't need big expensive presents. She like small and simple. I remember her telling us how you used to leave a new tea for her every few weeks in her quarters before you two got together. I thought it was so romantic. You knew her and knew what she would like."

"So the question is who knows you and knows what you like?"

Beth sat there for a minute or so. She then rushed out of the quarters.

"Thanks dad you're the best. See you later."

John smiled and finished his coffee.

Beth ran to the East pier, she knew his routine. After his run he would always spend some time just staring at the sea, he found it relaxing. He would stay there for about twenty minutes before making his way back to his quarters to shower and change for the day. She made it there before he arrived. She had about ten minutes before he would turn up. She went to rest against the railings. She was staring out to sea thinking about what she would say to him when she felt someone standing next to her. She looked up to see Ethan to her right. He was sweating from his run but he was concerned about finding her there.

"Hey Bethany is everything ok? You seem lost in thought" Ethan asked

"Yeah I'm fine, I just had to see you and I couldn't wait."

Ethan smiled at that.

"Well this is a nice surprise. What did you need to see me about?"

"I just wanted to say thank you for all the hoodies." Ethan blushed before he could deny it Beth carried on "I found another package on my bed this morning and dad was still there so I thanked him for it and he had no idea what I was talking about. He had nothing to do with all the others either. Strange that don't you think? I remembered when mamma told us about how dad would leave her a different tea in her quarters every few weeks because he knew she wasn't into jewellery, chocolates or flowers like every other woman you see in the films. That got me to thinking then dad asked me who knew about our family traditions and who knew I loved hoodies. There was only one name I could come up with that would go to all the trouble. You. Thank you so much. Why did you let me go on about my dad when you brought them for me?"

"It didn't matter if you knew who got them for you or not I just wanted you to have them."

Beth stepped closer to Ethan and lifted her hand to his cheek.

"That was the most romantic thing that has happened to me. Thank you again."

Beth tilted her head up and pulled Ethan's down so their lips could meet. It was a nice slow kiss. Beth wrapped her arms around Ethan's neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist. Neither was concerned about his sweat covered clothes. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes then reluctantly broke apart.

"I love you Bethany Ayanna Emmagen Shepard. I have for a long time."

Ethan caressed her cheek and touched his forehead to hers. Beth couldn't keep the tears at bay any longer. She was so happy.

"I love you too Ethan Ryan Lorne!" Beth smiled through her tears

XXXXXXX

Six months later…

"Hey dad! Can I ask you and mamma something?" Torren asked

Torren was waiting outside the infirmary for his parents to come and see the grandkids. They just got back from seeing Uncle Halling who was unwell again. John and Teyla rushed to the infirmary as soon as they heard the news.

"How are Alicia and the babies? Are they well?" Teyla asked anxiously

"Yeah, they're great. I just really need to know something but it's kind of personal. I hope you will be able to be honest with me."

"TJ what are you going on about? We want to see our grandkids and our daughter in law. Will you just hurry up and ask the question?" demanded John

"Er it's kind of delicate. Is there any way that you are my father biologically? However small the chance?"

"TJ I don't know where this has come from but you know as far as I'm concerned you are my first born but unfortunately we do not share any DNA."

"Torren you know your father and I became a couple after you were born. You are biologically the son of Kannan but you are the son of your father's heart. Why is this so important now?"

"Mamma I know dad loves me and that Uncle Kannan is my biological dad but I just had to ask the question. Are you ready to meet your grandkids?"

"YEAH!"

"Yes Torren" they both replied at the same time.

They walked into the infirmary and saw Rodney and Jennifer there, each holding a baby and there was Alicia sitting in bed holding the third baby. Alicia looked tired but she had the widest smile on her face. She looked to Torren as he walked in and saw him shake his head. Jennifer gave a baby to John to hold while Rodney gave Teyla the one he was holding.

"Mamma I'd like you to meet Mckay 'Mac' Richard Shepard. Dad I want to introduce you to John Torren Shepard and Alicia is holding Ronon Evan Shepard." Torren said with a smile.

"Wow TJ! We knew you were going to have triplets but seeing them here is just wow! You two have your work cut out for you but you know you've plenty of people who are going to offer to babysit? Hey JT I'm your Pops. I'm going to spoil you and your brothers and then give you back to your parents. We are going to have a great time."

"JT?" Torren asked

"It seems right!" John said

"Well, you remember that question I asked you outside?"

Both Teyla and John nodded.

"Well this is the reason." Torren pulled off all the babies' hats to reveal their hair. John and Teyla were astounded at what they saw.

"Oh come on! How is that fair? They have Shepard's hair! How is that possible?!" questioned Rodney

The adults just turned to look at John and Teyla.

"Hey you're the doctor and scientist you should know how it works. I mean I'm the only one in my family with this hair, only the boys have it but no Uncles or cousins. Even the girls' have it that's why they refuse to have short hair, they've seen the baby pictures. They're traumatised by them." John said

"Well I've always wanted to look like you, I'm the odd one out, the other five all have something of you but I don't. At least our sons will have something of you." declared TJ

"Oh please!" said Rodney "You may not look like him but you're the one that is most like him, you're the one that has most of his mannerisms. With the way you move, laugh everything you do, you are the spitting image of your dad. The original members of the expedition forget you're not Shepard's because you two are really alike let alone the new members who have no clue of our history and just knows that Shepard always says he has six kids, which he does, and the fact that you both have the same traits. We even forget it sometimes until something like this occurs when I know genetically that shouldn't occur." Rodney said nodding to the babies' hair.

"Hey Rodney, it doesn't matter how it happened. We have three gorgeous grandsons who are healthy. Three grandkids that we can and will spoil rotten and then we'll give them back to their parents. Just imagine all the fun we can have. I have two kids who are happily married and Beth is engaged to Ethan. We're lucky Rodney. We have our families and thankfully they are all happy and healthy, what more could we ask for? I mean would you rather they have your hair Rodney?" declared John

"Of course not. I wouldn't wish that on any one. You know how happy I was when the kids took after Jennifer in looks. It's just that I'm a scientist and I know that can't happen."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Well like I said I was the first one in my family to have the hair. Maybe the combination of Alicia's and TJ's genes made it happen or something."

"Well that makes a lot of sense doesn't it? You might as well say that Torren's love for you made it happen."

"I'll accept that." Said Alicia

"As will I" replied Teyla

John and Torren just stared at Rodney with smug smiles on their faces. Rodney threw his hands up in the air.

"Why do I even bother?" said a frustrated Rodney

Rodney went to his daughter and took his grandson from her.

"Well Ronon, you and your brothers are going to be spoilt but that's your parents' problem not yours. You will be so loved by all of us. If your parents are ever unfair to any of you just let me, your Pops along with your grandfathers Ronon and Evan know and we'll sort them out for you."

Rodney kissed his grandson's cheek. The four grandparents stood cooing over their grandkids. Torren and Alicia just watched them. Torren turned to Alicia and kissed her on the lips and the forehead. He then touched his forehead to hers.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The end.


End file.
